Saturday Night Showcase: Dr. Crafty

As a cartoonist I enjoy watching artcasts and speed draws from other creators. If my system worked well enough I might do more myself but my computer’s old and you’ve seen how Clip Studio Paint can slow up on occasion when I’m drawing digitally. And I can’t even find a screen recorder for my laptop. So unless I’m showing off the old pen-and-paper technique I still have some setting up or dealing with things to do. However, I may have found a sort of muse for how to do a drawing show. And oddly it comes from an evil scientist. Why not? I worked for one on Reviewers Unknown back in the day.

The closest thing we get to a name for the creator of Dr. Crafty comes from the email address, where we get the name Alexander Tansley. It’s not they type of drawing show I usually see. The only reason I even found out about it is that he took over drawing the title cards for Atop The Fourth Wall from Master The Creator. And given Dr. Crafty’s persona I’m sure it was a hostile takeover, and Master is now a semi-sentient eggplant or something hidden deep in West Virginia. Odd because Crafty is British (although Tansley’s deviantART for Dr. Crafty says he’s in the US) and I don’t think MTC was American either. I’m not aware of the backstage events there. What I do know is that Crafty also started his own speed drawing show, but it’s mixed with humor and trivia to create a rather unique and fun experience. Tonight we’ll be meeting the not-that-good doctor, his many assistants, and the various shows he currently does. There’s only three so it won’t take too long, but the episodes are typical YouTube length. Don’t worry, it’s an all-ages show. Mostly. You’ll see what I mean.

We’re going to start with the first episode of season two. By then Crafty or Tansley or whomever had his formula laid down, got himself some writers, and this episode also re-introduces the old characters while introducing the new spinoff characters.

Let’s look at a more typical episode. Dr. Crafty and main co-host Nurse Worse work on another “concoction”, featuring the Squidlings from the Splatoon franchise. And considering it’s a shooter involving ink it seems right at home for this show. It’s not Nurse Worse at her best since she’s less knowledgeable on the series than I am somehow but it does also showcase something else the show has: a story line.

Aren’t these supposed to be at best teen aged kids in this game? Never mind. Notice the way the art style and tone changes for Crafty’s “Colin” flashback? Is this from Crafty’s past? Is one or the other character a dream of the other? You’ll have to follow the series to find out. It’s not revealed yet.

What I like about the main show is how they go into the history of the characters being drawn and the franchises they come from, as well as give tips on character design and. Some episodes are original characters and they go into how and why certain features were added to better flesh out the character. Crafty uses Photoshop instead of Clip Studio Paint but I think I can pick up a few drawing tips just the same, like the one in the first video I showed, where Nurse talks about doing lineart.

There is also a Patreon-choice version of the main show but I think you get the idea. Now let’s look at the other two shows and co-hosts. Crafty’s Chara-Cafe and co-host Pepper brings us another drawing show. So what’s different from the main show? Let’s check out the first episode and see.

I like the idea of a show featuring audience participation. I wonder how I can do that? I’m lucky if I get a comment from someone other than my friend Sean or a vote on a poll. (And I still plan to do the video game playthroughs I did a poll on. I just need to figure out how to record them. Batman: Vengeance is surprisingly hard to record.) Pepper is also a different character from Nurse Worse. She’s kind of the polar opposite actually; more shy and not very confrontational with Crafty. I also notice he has a penchant for more plus-size women but that’s fine. I like the character designs which is why I watch the show. To see him design characters.

Remember when I said these shows were mostly all-ages. That’s because Messibelle, co-host of the last spin-off, Top 10 Tub, is kind of…well, as Beetlejuice once put it…”anxious, if you know what I mean”. I also think she’s a lesbian given she doesn’t react to the male characters that way, which should be a sigh of relief to said male characters. It’s the former that pushes the all-ages but doesn’t really go over it. I mean, this isn’t a kids show. It’s….kind of like my site, more on the PG side (except for the more kid-oriented comics, Captain Yuletide by design and Captain PSA by nature). So it doesn’t cross the line too much, but she does push hard. I should rephrase. Anyway, this isn’t a drawing show but your typical Top 10 list show. It’s the presentation that separates it from the other shows however, as we see in its debut episode on top 10 original characters created by fans, a sort of reversal of the usual show.

This alone might make an interesting idea for a spin-off, a show where the fans get to send in their own fanart concoctions for review and commentary. Instead future episodes included favorite Pokémon and choices for future Smash Brothers characters. Messibelle…scares me. Like I would not be comfortable around her in person. Partly because she’s sentient slime but I live a sheltered life in my little studio. (Speaking of which, pop in tomorrow for a bonus post if I get the required work done tomorrow.) She does have her own personality and is fun to at least watch, just like the other two.

If you want to check out more of Dr. Crafty and his assistants, visit the YouTube channel. Tell them ShadowWing Tronix sent you…and he’ll go “who?”. Just don’t stand too close. He might be radioactive or something. And for other information: